Part 14 (1/2)

”You should be. Don't you think you should have warned me what I was walking into last night, Dallas?” I demanded, turning to face her.

”No, because then you wouldn't have faced them. You would have just kicked his a.s.s out.” She grimaced. ”And you really needed to deal with your mom, Harp.”

I glared at her for another long moment before sitting down beside her at the table. ”I know. I stood up to her last night...”

Dallas's eyes widened and then she grinned. ”Good. I'm glad. You should have done that years ago.”

”You still should have told me,” I grumbled under my breath before taking another swallow of my hot coffee.

”I swear it won't happen again.” Dallas tossed her phone aside, giving me her full attention now. ”So, how did it go? I know the rock star is here. I think the whole f.u.c.king building knows that he's here after this morning. Things couldn't have gone that badly.”

For the next ten minutes I told her all about the evening before. Dallas listened intently while I filled her in on the disastrous dinner, the arrival of Emmie, and then getting home to find Shane had run the entire way. When I was done, because there really wasn't anything she needed to know about what came after, Dallas shook her head. ”Sounds like he has it bad.”

”He says he loves me,” I confided.

”Yeah, I know. I see it in his eyes.” Dallas gave me a small smile. ”Apparently not all rockers are complete douchebags.”

I raised a brow, wondering about her own rocker romance. ”How are things with Axton? Have you spoken to him since the other night?”

Slim shoulders lifted in a shrug and she grimaced again, causing her Monroe piercing to lift with the motion. ”He's called and left a few texts, but I'm not really worried about answering him back. He really isn't worth my time.”

”So you don't know if he really hooked up with Gabriella at that party or not?”

Dallas stood and went to the fridge to take out a bottle of diet c.o.ke. ”I know he did, so it doesn't matter. He loves her.”

I didn't know what to think. I had seen Axton with Dallas only once, but I knew that he felt something stronger for her than just l.u.s.t. Still, she knew him better than I did, so I wasn't going to put my foot in it. If Dallas wanted to call it quits with Mr. Rock G.o.d, then that was her choice.

My phone buzzed with an email, and I glanced down at it to find it was from my new boss. I frowned as I read the doc.u.ment and then muttered a curse. ”Well there goes my plans,” I grumbled.

”What?”

”My boss wants me to handle a story that someone else refused to do.” I stood, coffee in hand. ”I don't care, but good grief. A little more than an hour's notice would've been nice.”

Shane was just coming out of the bathroom when I entered my bedroom. He had a pair of basketball shorts on and nothing else as he used a towel to dry his hair. ”You look grumpy.”

I blew out a frustrated breath. ”Yeah, I kind of am. I have to work. Guess we won't be going shopping after all.”

Shane tossed the towel aside and reached for me. Dropping a tender kiss on my lips, he let his hands rub down my back and over my hips. Strong fingers gripped my a.s.s hard through my sleep shorts. ”Don't be disappointed. I'll take care of everything, and we can do something tonight.”

I smiled. ”Yeah?”

”Yeah. We can't really go out to that kind of store, not without some tabloid picking up the story. I don't want you exposed to that s.h.i.+t, so we will have to go a more discreet direction.”

I was curious now. ”How so?” I thought we would just find a local p.o.r.n shop and buy everything that looked like fun, but I was kind of clueless about what those things might be.

”Don't worry about it, beautiful. Just trust me to guide you.” He kissed me, lingering for just a minute before stepping back. ”Text me and let me know when you're finished and I'll pick you up. In the meantime I'll go check on Lana.”

Curiosity ate at me all afternoon as I traveled uptown to the hotel where some band was staying today, and today only, before heading off for a three month long tour across the Midwest. The band proved to be difficult to question for the interview, but I somehow got through it and got some good pictures that I sent to my boss.

Shane texted me that he was on his way, and I started on the rough draft of my interview on my phone while I waited.

I had been sitting in the lobby awhile when a shadow appeared beside of me, and I raised my head to find the more difficult band member that I had just interviewed standing there watching me. It was a little unnerving, but I gave him a forced smile.

”Hi.” I thought his name was Trey, but I couldn't be sure. He and the other band members of Drunken Monkeys had spent more time making s.e.xual comments than answering the questions my boss had requested I ask.

”I was hoping you hadn't gone far.”

I shrugged. ”Nope, I'm waiting on my boyfriend to pick me up.” I put a little more emphasis on the word boyfriend, hoping the jerk would take the hint and go away. He really gave me the creeps, even if he was kind of hot. Something in his hazel eyes just didn't set right with me.

There was an empty chair beside of me and Trey took it. He sat on the edge, leaning closer toward me as he spoke. ”How about coming upstairs with me for a few hours? I really want to see what is under that cute little skirt.”

”And I'm really trying hard not to puke.” I glared at him. ”Let's see who succeeds first, a.s.shole.”

A big, slightly beefy hand reached over and rubbed over my knee before I could move. ”Don't play hard to get, pretty girl. You know I'm a sure thing.”

I felt bile rise in the back of my throat as his hand touched my skin. Without thinking about it, I picked my keys and lifted the little can of Mace. One, two, three...

Trey, the Drunken Monkey screamed as the Mace entered his eyes. Jumping up, rubbing at his face, he started calling me all kinds of vile names. I tried not to laugh at him, really, I did. He was used to getting any girl to fall into bed with him and it had gone to his head. My first rejection must have sounded like a hard to get line, but my second more forceful rejection was hard to take in.

”What the h.e.l.l is going on here?” A deep voice that never failed to send s.h.i.+vers through me had me raising my head.

The can of Mace was still in my hand. When Shane saw it and put that together with the reaction of the hurting rocker, his entire expression changed to something I had never seen before. And I hoped I never saw it again. His face contorted with a spasm of rage, and the next thing I knew Trey was lying on the floor of a five star hotel. He was no longer screaming in pain because Shane had knocked his a.s.s out.

”You f.u.c.king a.s.shole!” Shane yelled in the unconscious man's face. ”Touch my girl again and I will break your f.u.c.king neck!”

He was shaking with rage, his face so red it was almost purple. I jumped up and grabbed his arm, afraid he would start kicking the other man.

”Hey, hey.” I forced him to turn and face me. When my arms went around him, I could actually feel the rage fading a little. ”It's okay. Nothing happened.”

”Something obviously happened or you wouldn't have had to protect yourself!” Shane growled. ”f.u.c.k this, you are not going to any more interviews unless I'm with you.”

I wanted to argue, but knew now-while he was still vibrating with anger-was not the right time. So I let it go for the moment.

On the floor, Trey groaned as he slowly came around. I turned so I was standing between him and Shane.

”What happened?” he mumbled as he glanced around. When his gaze focused on Shane, he blinked, his eyes obviously still stinging from the Mace. ”Stevenson?”

”Yup.” Shane's arms wrapped around my waist, staking his claim. ”Stay the f.u.c.k away from my girl.”

Trey muttered a curse. ”I didn't know she was your girl, f.u.c.ker. And really? You have a steady girl?” His gaze traveled to me and over my body almost leeringly. ”Not that I can question your taste.” But then he wiped his hands over his eyes. They were watering from the reaction to the chemical. ”f.u.c.k, this hurts!”

Because the lobby was off to the side of the hotel entrance, no one had noticed our confrontation. But with Trey continuing to curse it drew the attention of the manager and a few others. The manager, an older man with almost completely gray hair, stepped forward. ”Is there a problem here?”

Shane turned to face the man. ”The guy has something in his eyes,” he informed the manager with a face that was like stone it was so hard. ”He may need medical attention.”

I glanced down at the other rocker. His face was red, the burn from the Mace affecting the skin around his eyes as well. I bit my lip, feeling sorry for the guy now.

”This doesn't look good at all,” the manager commented when he crouched down to take a better look at the guy's eyes. ”What happened, sir?”

I waited for the Drunken Monkey to tell the older man that I had a.s.saulted him. I had a sudden fear that the cops were going to be called and I'd be arrested for spraying Trey with my Mace. Instead, he grumbled something about being stupid and left it at that.